MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek believes that the party’s new election campaign strategies are bearing fruit, as seen in the recently-concluded Batu Sapi and Galas by-elections.

“You notice that MCA does not conduct any big ceramah and big dinners. We are very low-key. Our emphasis is more on human contact and small ceramah,” Chua told reporters after chairing the party central committee meeting at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

He said that MCA also did not announce any financial allocations during the campaign period, which can be distorted by the opposition and claim that it was a form of vote-buying.

“This is not very fair for Chinese schools. We give (funds) all the time but there is not enough,” he said.

Preliminary analysis by most parties involved in the by-elections showed that in both contents, there was a marginal swing in Chinese votes for BN which helped secure increased winning majorities.

Chua said that MCA was proud of this trend.

“MCA will continue our efforts to garner support from the public, especially among Chinese voters,” he said.

ETP, 1Malaysia being accepted

Among the factors which help swing Chinese votes, according to Chua, was the community’s acceptance of the Najib administration’s Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) and 1Malaysia movement.

“The Chinese are more supportive (of BN because) the ETP would expand the economic cake because it needs the support from the private sector

“the government is fully committed to achieving this and it will benefit all races because of the good economic growth,” he said.

He adds that the Chinese community was more willing to accept MCA’s campaign message was also partly due to the fact that the party was more united than before.

“We said before that if we can't achieve unity in the party, it's very difficult to get the support from outside the party,” said Chua.